Free LOVING HER SOUL MATE by Katherine Cachitorie

as the light
changed to green and his truck began moving again.
    Shay looked around the newsroom, realized no-one was watching her.   “The Dodge murders?” she asked in a lowered
voice.
    “Right.”
    “So you agree they’re related?”
    “We won’t be discussing it over
the phone.   I can move a few things
around and get with you tonight.   If you’re still interested in the truth.”
    Shay didn’t want to tell him that
she was no longer working the case.   What
rational reporter would turn down an opportunity to get inside information from
an inside source like John Malone?   But
she was no liar, no devious person, and wasn’t about to become one now.   Not even for her career.   “You’ll need to talk with Ronnie,” she said
with some degree of bitterness.   “I’ve
been removed from the story.”
    “Of course you were removed,” John
snapped.   “What did you expect calling
out the chief on his own turf?   McNamara had
a conversation with your publisher as soon as that press conference was
over.   Nobody’s going to stand up to him
the way you did and expect no retribution.”
    Shay was taken aback by his
snappiness.   “Then why do you want to
meet with me?”
    “Because you stood up to him,”
John said.   And never backed down the way those other so-called veteran reporters
would have , he wanted to add.   But
added instead:   “You did understand you
would be pulled off of the case when you went that far, didn’t you?”   He was suddenly praying that she did get it;
that she wasn’t so naïve as to be surprised by the move.
    Shay sighed.   Of course she should have expected a penalty
for going toe-to-toe with the chief of police.   But that was what she thought journalists were supposed to do.   “I just didn’t think about that,” she replied
honestly.   “All I could think about was
another female in Dodge, going out at night, thinking nothing’s wrong.   And then she ends up butchered too.”
    John stopped at another red light
and leaned his head back.   He understood
what she meant.   He was thinking about
the next victim too.   “Are you still
interested?” he asked her.
    “I’m interested,” she said,
grabbing a pen.   “Where do you want to
meet?”
    “You still live alone, don’t
you?”    
    “Alone?” Shay asked, oddly taken
aback by the question.   But she quickly
regrouped.   “Yes,” she said.   “I still live alone.”
    “Okay.   I’ll try to get over there at nine or around
that time.   And Turner,” John added,
“this is strictly confidential, you hear me?   Not even Ronnie Burk or Ed Barrington are to be
told about our little get together.   Understood?”
    “Yes, yes of course,” Shay
said.   “I’ll see you tonight.”
    John killed the call and then
tossed his cell phone onto the passenger seat.   He ran his hand through his thick, already rumpled pile of hair and
shook his head.   Why he didn’t just leave
it the hell alone like the rest of his colleagues were doing, and just let the
little investigating he’d been able to do play itself out, was a mystery to
him.  
    And why confide in her?   Yes, she showed some spunk this morning at
the press conference, and yes he viewed her as a tough kid.   But so what?   That didn’t mean he should be risking his entire career by putting this
kind of information in the hands of some new-to-Brady outsider like her.   Besides, she wasn’t even on the case
anymore.   She may not even know how to
handle this level of information.  
    Then he wondered if it was more
her body than her spunk that was driving this move.   Wondered if he was really
more interested in fucking her again than schooling her about this
ass-backwards case that should have been exposed a long time ago.   Although he just discovered what was really
going on himself, he knew for a fact that Chief McNamara and others on the
force knew all along.  
    But he had to get this just right
or it could